Pineapple Cup with Rock Sugar, Singapore 1915
Reader ratingsFresh pineapple juice with soda or plain water, a little crushed rock sugar and thin slices of lemon: a hot-weather drink printed in Singapore in 1915.
- Recipe makes
- About 1 liter, 4 glasses
- Prep
- Total
Pineapple cup in a jug with lemon slices, beside a glass, half a pineapple and crushed rock sugar.
The story behind the recipe
The juice of a small pineapple, a pint of soda water or plain water, half an ounce of crushed rock sugar and two or three thin slices of lemon: that is the pineapple cup the Singapore Free Press printed in December 1915, in a column of “Hot Weather Beverages.” It is alcohol-free, and the paper says it is “delicious” made hot as well.
From an old book, for the Singapore heat
The column said its recipes came “from an old book of the early days of Queen Victoria’s reign,” and printed them for Singapore readers beside rice water, barley water and eau sucrée. The sugar is “crushed sugar candy,” rock sugar, which the same column also recommends for barley water. “If possible use the juice of the fresh fruit, as by so doing the drink is enormously improved.” What else Singapore drank, from four-cent coffee to the gin sling, is in What Did People Drink in Old Singapore?
Read more about this recipe
Our version
A small pineapple gives about 400 ml of juice, and the British pint of the column is about 570 ml. We use soda water; plain water is the column’s other choice. Half an ounce of rock sugar is about 15 grams, kept as printed, though a very sweet pineapple may need none. The column says nothing about taste beyond its advice on fresh fruit. For a plainer cooler from the same column, make barley water as in Beeton’s 1906 Barley Water.
Pineapple Cup.—Take the juice from a small pineapple and place in a deep jug. Add to it a pint of either soda water or plain water and ½oz. of crushed sugar candy. Mix thoroughly, then add two or three thin slices of lemon, and serve. Pinapple cup is delicious made with hot water instead of soda water, and with a couple of the rounds of the pineapple, cut into tiny squares, and added to the jug. If possible use the juice of the fresh fruit, as by so doing the drink is enormously improved.
Recipe makes: About 1 liter, 4 glasses
Ingredients
For About 1 liter, 4 glasses. Quantities are shown as written.
Quantities as written here, for About 1 liter, 4 glasses.
- Fresh pineapple juice400 ml
- Soda water570 ml
- Rock sugar15 g
- Lemon1/2
Measurement notes
Ingredients as written here
- 400 ml fresh pineapple juice
- 570 ml soda water
- 15 g rock sugar
- 1/2 lemon
Equipment
Juicer or blender
Fine sieve
Deep jug
Instructions
Peel and core the pineapple, juice it or blend it, and press it through the fine sieve to get the fresh pineapple juice. Pour it into the deep jug.
Crush the rock sugar finely and stir it into the juice until it dissolves.
Add the chilled soda water and stir gently.
Cut two or three thin slices from the lemon, float them on top and serve.
Nutrition
70calories per serving
- Recipe makes
- About 1 liter, 4 glasses
- Servings
- 4
Estimated from USDA FoodData Central values for fresh pineapple juice and sugar, for one glass.
Recipe notes
Notes
Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the batch.
For the hot version in the 1915 column, use hot water instead of soda water, and add a couple of slices of pineapple cut into tiny squares.
Granulated sugar works if you have no rock sugar.
Scaling changes the ingredients only; glassware, ice and timings need their own judgment. To adapt this recipe further, try the recipe tool at TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab), our sister site.
Sources and attribution
“Hot Weather Beverages,” Singapore Free Press, December 29, 1915, p. 5, NewspaperSG, National Library Board
Recipe details
- Drink
- Alcohol-free
- Drink family
- Sodas & Soft Drinks
- Region
- British
- Source decade
- 1910s
- Base
- Fruit & juice
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Season
- Summer